The Dyatlov Pass. The Hike of the Doomed through the Forbidden Areas. Book 1. The conclusions of Kochetkov

«On February 21, I was summoned to the CPSU City Committee by comrade I.S. Prodanov and told that a group of hikers is missing and it was necessary to search for them. On February 21, 1959, I, a student of the Polytechnic Institute (I do not know his name), the aircraft commander Spitsyn, and a navigator flew off on a „Yak“ airplane in the direction of the Vizhai village.»

A criminal case file, sheet 41

Yura Blinov was just that student, whose last name Dyakhlykh did not remember. And Deyakhlykh himself was just that engineer, who «procured a car for Dyatlov.» After I have found the engineer, it remained for me to clarify one important fact. To what extent were Dryakhlykh’s words about the car true?

The telegram of Rustem Slobodin, February 26, 1959

«Greetings to the native Sverdlovsk residents! Yesterday we safely reached the Vizhai village. Now we are driving to the starting point, the 2nd Severnyi village by a special car.»

The telegram contains a very interesting information, which has not been paid due attention to before. It turned out that the hikers were not driving in an ordinary car, but «in a special car.» But looking at the broken car body, a fair question arises: «How was it different from other cars of those years to be called a special car?» And the answer to this important question was given by Yura Yudin.

The diary of Yura Yudin, January 26, 1959

«In the truck in which we came,3 movies were brought: «My Apprenticeship» by Gorki, «There is such a guy» and «Symphony in gold».

Now everything fell into a groove. Indeed, the car was ordinary, but due to the fact that it belonged to a cinema operator, it was called a special car, since it carried the equipment for the demonstration of feature films to the personnel of the 8th Camp Department. Accordingly, the engineer Dryakhlykh, negotiated on the issue of a car not for the students, but for the needs of the Energolesokombinat, i.e. on the eve of the opening of the 21st Congress of the CPSU, he wanted to show the feature films to the lumberjacks. And the next day, January 27, the cinema operator with the hikers would have continued on to the 2nd Severnyi village. That was why, comrade Khakimov said that the Dyatlov group was taken by the car to the Severnyi village on January 27. But this information did not fully correspond to reality, since the car with the movie operator, indeed, continued its movement, but without the hikers. And why this happened, I will tell you, but not in this chapter, since now we are talking about something completely different, namely of the Severnyi mine.

One fact, moreover, a controversial one, cannot be a 100% guarantee that a certain settlement was actually located behind the 2nd Severnyi village. Therefore, we had to look for more compelling evidence of the existence of the Severnyi mine. And, strange as it might sound, such information was in the criminal case files, rather than somewhere in the secret archives.

The Protocol of interrogation of the witness Mikhail Timofeyevich Dryakhlykh, March 5, 1959

«On February 21, 1959, a student of the Polytechnic Institute, (I do not know his name), the aircraft commander Spitsyn and a navigator flew off on an „Yak“ airplane in the direction of the Vizhai village, thence up the Lozva river through the 41st Kvartal, the 2nd Severnyi village, the Severnyi mine to the mouth of the Auspiya river, up along the Auspiya river. Then returned back through the 2nd Severnyi village and the 41st Kvartal.»

A criminal case file, sheet 41

2-ой Северный рудник – The 2nd Severnyi mine. Северный рудник – The Severnyi mine.

Coming from the Protocol of interrogation of the witness Dryakhlykh, it turns out that the Severnyi mine was located between the 2nd Severnyi village and the mouth of the Auspiya river, but away from the Lozva river. The thing was that the plane flew in one direction over the road, and back over the Lozva river. That is why in one case the Severnyi mine is mentioned, and in the other case not. And it remains to find out where this unknown settlement was approximately located.

Radiogram No. 26. Received by Temnikov. To Sulman

«We are in 6—10 km from the mouth of the Auspiya river. In the village at the mouth of the Auspiya river the tracks of narrow sports skis were found. The ski trail was quite well-trodden, there were many people, 8—10 persons. The tracks are old. Nevolin.»

A criminal case file, sheet 143

Устье Ауспии – The mouth of the Auspiya river. Санно-оленья тропа – The deer-and-sledge trail. Северный рудник – The Severnyi mine.

Based on the radiogram, the village was located 6—10 km from the mouth of the Auspiya river. And although Nevolin did not indicate the name of the settlement, it was clearly referred to the Severnyi mine, since there were no other settlements in that area. Having compared all available facts, I began to search for the Severnyi mine. And I have found only one place in the maps, which fully corresponded to the available information. This is the height «297 (296.4)». It was located about 7 km from the mouth of the Auspiya river, if you move along the deer-and-sledge trail, which is indicated in the old maps. In addition, based on the modern satellite maps, an abandoned road from the 2nd Severnyi village to this height was visible.

Chapter 4. «The hiking route by days» of Yevgeniy Maslennikov

After the Severnyi village was found, it was possible to start analyzing a very important document, which, undoubtedly, was «The hiking route by days», compiled by the student of the Ural Polytechnic Institute, Dyatlov Igor Alekseyevich, back in December 1958. And there was something to disassemble, since the route, presented in this document did not correspond to reality for a number of reasons. And it was the Severnyi mine that put everything in its place. However, first things first.

The hiking route by days

«The 4th – 5th days of the hike. The Vizhai village – the 2nd Severnyi village, 55 km;

The 6th day of the hike – — – — – — – — – — – — – — -;

The 7th – 8th days of the hike. Up the Auspiya river, 38 km;

The 9th day of the hike. A pass at the upper reaches of the Lozva river, 14 km;

The 10th day of the hike. The ascent of the Mount Otorten, 20 km;

The 11th day of the hike. The Mount Otorten – the upper reaches of the Auspiya river, 18 km».

A criminal case file, sheet 202

And to make it clear what this chapter is about, I will put the dates for each hike day.

The hiking route by days.

The 4th – 5th days of the hike. The Vizhai village – the 2nd Severnyi village, 55 km., January 26 and 17;

The 6th day of the hike – — – — – — – — – — – — – — – January 28;

The 7th – 8th days of the hike. Up the Auspiya river, 38 km., January 29 and 30;

The 9th day of the hike. A pass at the upper reaches of the Lozva river, 14 km., January 31;

The 10th day of the hike. The ascent of the Mount Otorten, 20 km., February 1;

The 11th day of the hike. The Mount Otorten – the upper reaches of the Auspiya river, 18 km., February 2.

There are 3 points in «The hiking route by days», which put serious questions to Igor Dyatlov, as the author of this document. The first one is why were the dashes inserted for January 28, and was not the mileage indicated, as if the hikers were not intended to go along the Lozva river? The second one is why were 38 km up the Auspiya river indicated, and not 30, as in reality? The third one is what 14 km the hikers had to overcome on January 31, if they had already reached the pass on the January 30.

Маршрут похода по дням – The hiking route by days

But before proceeding to the analysis of «The hiking route by days», one has to get familiarized with the conclusions of the investigation on this matter.

The decision to discontinue the criminal case, May 28, 1959

«From the diary entries, croquis of the route and developed photographic films of the hikers it is determined that on May 28, 1959 the group went upstream the Lozva river, on January 30, 1959 the group continued its movement, on January 31, 1959 the hikers reached the Auspiya river and tried to go over the pass to the Lozva river valley, but due to the low temperature and strong wind they had to go back down and stayed overnight. On February 01, 1959 the hikers built a cache at the upper reaches of the Auspiya river, wherein they left the food supplies and all redundant equipment.

Returning on January 31, 1959 in the Auspiya river valley, and knowing of the difficult terrain conditions of the height «1079», where the ascent was supposed, Dyatlov, as the leader of the group, made a gross mistake, which manifested itself in the fact that the group began the ascent on February 1, 1959 only at 15:00 p.m.»

A criminal case file, sheet 384

In this document, the route, covered by the hikers, is not fully described, but, as is known, the investigation conclusions did not appear out of the blue. The prosecutor-criminologist Ivanov took advantage of the conclusions of the Head of the united search and rescue detachments, Yevgeniy Maslennikov, who was a master of sports in tourism.

The Protocol of interrogation of the witness Yevgeniy Polykarpovich Maslennikov, March 10, 1959.

«On January 28.01.1959 the group covered about 15 km and stopped for the night on the Lozva river.

The next day, on January 29, the group reached the mouth of the Auspiya river and walked up to 3 km upstream.

On January 30, 1959 they walked 17 km, starting at 10.30 a.m. That was a warm overnight stay, whereof all the hike participants of the expedition responded well. The camp site of this night was found by the Slobtsov group.

On January 31, the group walked 14 km, and in the evening came to the Lozva river pass, to the place where we later had a helipad. The hike participants wrote in their diaries that the pass met them with the wind, similar to that of the aircraft takeoff. The bad weather and unsuitability of the place to spend the night in such conditions forced the group to return 1000 m down and spend the night in the wood, on the left bank of the Auspiya river.

The next day, on February 1, the group built a cache and at 15:0 p.m., after lunch, went on their old trail to the pass between the heights «1079» and «880».

A criminal case file, sheets 72 and 73

The conclusions of Yevgeniy Maslennikov contain one very interesting point. In contrast to the entries for the other days, which indicate the exact mileage, the entry for January 29 specifies only the distance passed along the Auspiya river. And in order to understand the reason for such actions of Yevgeniy Maslennikov, one has to know the exact distance from the 2nd Severnyi village to the mouth of the Auspiya river. And the distance is 17 km.

The hiking route by days, according to Maslennikov:

The 6th day of the hike, January 28, 15 km;

The 7th day of the hike, January 29, 5 km;

The 8th day of the hike, January 30, 17 km;

The 9th day of the hike, January 31, 14 km;

The 10th day of the hike, February 1, 2.5 km.

It turns out, that on January 29, the hikers walked only 5 km. Apparently, Maslennikov himself did not believe in that, so he indicated only the way, walked along the Auspiya river, and not the entire distance, which the hikers covered on January 29. But that’s not all. If you carefully study the version of Maslennikov, you can see with an unarmed eye that his conclusions were fitted to «The hiking route by days», compiled by Igor Dyatlov. Namely, on January 31, the hikers allegedly covered 14 km, but was that really so? And in order to understand this important issue, one needs to add up the distance, walked by the hikers along the Auspiya river, coming from the testimony of Yevgeniy Maslennikov.

The Dyatlov group’s route, created by Maslennikov (from the 2nd Severnyi village to the tent on the slope of the height «1079»). January 28 – 15 km. January 29 – 5 km. January 30 – 17 km. January 31 -14 km. Лабаз – The cache. Стоянка манси – the Mansi camp site. От 2-го Северного рудника до устья Ауспии – 17 км – From the 2nd Severnyi to the mouth of the Auspiya river – 17 km.

January 29 – 3 km, January 30 – 17 km, January 31 – 14 km, February 1 – 2.5 km. If we sum up the entire distance, it turns out that from the mouth of the Auspiya river to the tent on the slope of the height «1079» is 36.5 km. Let’s round this figure to 37.

The Protocol of interrogation of the witness Ivan Vassiliyevich Pashin, March 7, 1959

«We found the first camp site of the hikers at a distance of about 17 km from the place of their death, and at a distance of 20 km from the Lozva river.»

A criminal case file, sheet 49

So, the forester Pashin confirms the calculations made by Yevgeniy Maslennikov. And he should have known, by force of his duty, the exact distance from the Lozva river to the tent on the slope of the height «1079». And that might be the end of it, if not a slight problem. The exact distance from the mouth of the Lozva river to the tent on the slope of the height «1079» was not 37, but 30 km. And what is most interesting, Maslennikov knew it for sure, as it is evidenced by his notebook entry.

The notebook of Yevgeniy Maslennikov

The schedule of movement

«January 28, the 6th day of the hike. From the 2nd Severnyi village to the Auspiya river, 31 km;

January 29 and 30, the 7th and 8th days of the hike. Up the Auspiya river, 30 km.

Маршрут похода по дням – The hiking route by days

An interesting story comes out. Based on the notebook entry, on January 29 and 30, the hikers walked up the Auspiya river, 30 km. And under the interrogation it was indicated only 22 km for the same days, of which 2 km along the Lozva river, i.e. 10 km less, which looks very strange. But even more surprising is the distance, walked by the hikers on January 28, 31 km in general. I wonder where this strange information, which turns everything upside down, came from. After all, it is known that from the 2nd Severnyi village to the Auspiya river is 17 km.

Radiogram No.28.2. Received by Temnikov. To Sulman

«All the documents of the group, except for the croquis and personal notebooks, were taken away by the prosecutor, including three copies of the route sheet. Maslennikov.»

A criminal case file, sheet 160

It turns out, that Yevgeniy Maslennikov did not invent anything, but used the information, obtained from the croquis, which were found in Igor Dyatlov’s field bag. But why does he say under the interrogation something different from what he writes in his notebook? That is the question.

Chapter 5. «The hiking route by days», compiled by Igor Dyatlov

And now it’s time to study out the blind spots in «The hiking route by days», compiled by Igor Dyatlov. Indeed, the hikers were not going to move along the Lozva river. That is why there are dashes in the document for January 28. After the 2nd Severnyi village they were heading not in the direction of the Auspiya river, but to the Severnyi mine, the distance to which was a bit more than 7 km by the road. And accordingly, it constituted 38 km for the 7th and 8th days of the hike. The thing is that it is a bit more than 7 km from the Severnyi mine to the mouth of the Auspiya river, and it is about 30 km from the mouth of the Auspiya river to the pass, which results in just 37—38 km when adding up these distance segments.

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